State "Budget"

But maybe not in California

The legislature is about to pass a "budget" that isn't quite one. As we have noted in prior blog posts, while under Prop 25 of 2010, the legislature must pass a budget today or lose pay for every day it doesn't, it is the legislature that defines what a "budget" is. It certainly doesn't have to be a comprehensive plan that is agreeable to the governor. From CalMatters/WhatMatters:

Today the Legislature will pass a new state budget to account for a projected $54 billion deficit* caused by the pandemic. But it’s only a placeholder budget, because a few key elements are missing: 

• How much revenue the state will bring in. (The tax deadline was pushed back to July 15.) 
• How much aid, if any, the federal government will provide. 
• Agreement from Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Today’s action allows lawmakers to keep getting paid — if they don’t pass a budget by June 15, they lose their paychecks. But it doesn’t resolve differences between Newsom and the Legislature when it comes to how the state’s massive budget hole should be plugged. Nor does it provide clarity for local governments, public schools and safety net programs desperate to know their financial fate.

Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist representing many of the state’s public school districts: “Everybody in public education in this state is on pins and needles.” 

The budget lawmakers will pass today reflects an agreement the Senate and Assembly reached earlier this month, which largely rejects Newsom’s plan to cut $14 billion from schools and safety net programs unless the federal government sends aid by July 1. Instead, the Legislature’s plan assumes the feds will send money by Oct. 1 — and if they don’t, limits cuts to $7 billion by drawing on reserves. 

Newsom on Tuesday didn’t appear concerned that the feds hadn’t yet promised money. 

Newsom: “We’re not going to back away from the pressure and the energy to get more support from the federal government. … To the extent that it didn’t manifest before the budget deal, I never candidly anticipated it would. So nothing fundamentally has changed from our perspective.” 
Newsom and lawmakers will likely resolve their outstanding differences by Friday, when the Assembly breaks for summer recess. Major points of contention include how much aid to provide undocumented immigrants, how to manage emergency spending on the pandemic, and what to do with Calbright, the state’s online-only community college.

Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe: “The definition of good legislation is a compromise that is mutually repugnant to all sides. And that’s what has to happen.”

Source: https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?e=cd8ca92ba1&u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=3d6788b405

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*As we endlessly have noted in this blog and elsewhere, words such as "deficit" in California budget-speak do not have the meanings they do in ordinary parlance. See:
https://issuu.com/home/published/may_2020_-_headline_vs._reality___ucla_anderson_sc